Rural Provider Relief Fund Details Announced

All RHCs to receive a minimum of $100,000

On Friday, May 1st, the Trump Administration announced additional details regarding the distribution of $10 Billion from the Provider Relief fund for rural hospitals and rural health clinics and rural federally qualified health centers. As part of this announcement, National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) Executive Director Bill Finerfrock was invited to participate in a call with HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan so he could share some of the details with him, along with leaders of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).

The following is based on information shared by Deputy Secretary Hargan during the call with Bill Finerfrock.  More details will follow but we wanted to share the information we know at this point.

1. Every federally certified Rural Health Clinic – including Pediatric RHCs – will receive funds from this distribution.
2. Rural Health Clinics will not need to apply.  Your clinic-specific allocation will be automatically deposited in your account (presuming you have an ACH on file with Medicare).  If you do NOT receive money from CMS electronically but instead, get checks, then it will take longer to get the money.
3. The deposit should appear in the RHCs account in the middle of next week (on or around 5/6).
4. For Independent RHCs the money will come directly to the RHC as enrolled in the Medicare or Medicaid program.
5. For Provider-based RHCs that are owned by rural hospitals or CAHs, the money will be included in the distribution for the rural hospital/CAH account.
6. For Provider-based RHCs that are owned by non-rural hospitals, the money will be sent to the parent hospital.
7. The amount each RHC receives will vary depending on the operating expenses of the clinic but every RHC will receive no less than $100,000, regardless of expenses. Amounts above $100,000 will be based on operating expenses.
8. Each CAH and rural hospital will receive an amount that will vary depending on the operating expenses of the rural hospital/CAH but every rural hospital/CAH will receive no less than $1,000,000 for the hospital and no less than $100,000 for each RHC attached to that hospital.
9. The Average distribution per RHC will be $162,000.  The average distribution for rural hospitals/CAHs will be $4,000,000.

Per NARHC, they do not know what data is being used to calculate the RHCs average operating expenses but we are expecting an update on this soon.